Autiotalo 2019, Löydetty esine, kipsi, 22 x 7 x 5 cm

LOST & DISAPPEARED

I have always worked extensively in painting, sculpture, installation and other media. With a few exceptions, the works in this exhibition are object compositions made from materials I have randomly found. Even though I am not exactly a collector -stocking up on different kinds of things that might be suitable for artworks – my relationship with these materials is very selective and conceptual. There may have been a “relationship” with an object for years before it found its natural place in the art work.

My intention is to intuitively combine objects and materials so that they create new worlds and fascinating transformations in relation to the beauty of the materials and even the subtle horror of the content of the work. I let the materials speak for themselves through free association. The works in this exhibition were created over a period of several years.

Antti Raitala (b. 1964) is a visual artist living and working in Helsinki.

Dada-runo, 2022, maalattu puu

Koru, 2020, löydetyt esineet

Haute Couture, 2018, esinekooste

La Strada, 2002

DOTS, STRIPES AND WINGED CREATURES

In my work, I use a combination of beeswax and thin paint. With melted wax, I make a pattern on the canvas, mostly using dots, but occasionally using other designs. On top of the pattern, I brush stripes of color using thin paint. Making a wax dot pattern is slow, whereas brushing a stripe of paint is fast, but the resulting combination can be surprising. I try to achieve interesting results using pure colors and simple methods.

I have taken winged creatures, i.e. images of angels, from the world of icons. Another fascinating aspect of icons are the borders that frame the image area, and it is this kind of structure I want to imitate in some of my paintings.

Kumaraharteinen enkeli 30×22 cm, 2024

Sininen pilkku, punainen viiva 50×38 cm, 2023

Lintumainen enkeli 40 x 27cm, 2024

“Ikoneista ja enkeleistä”, 2024, detalji installaatiosta

Pyhä Yrjänä, 2023, 33 x 24cm, mehiläisvaha ja tempera kankaalle

I am Faint with Love, diptyykki, akryyli ja tussi kankaalle, 170 x 220 cm, 2024

My beautiful on, come with me, akryyli ja tussi kankaalle, 90 x 90 cm, 2024

WINTER IS GONE, THE RAIN IS ABATED, AKRYYLI JA TUSSI KANKAALLE, 120 X120 CM, 2024

I am Faint with Love

The exhibition contains abstract paintings inspired by the book Song of Songs.

The Song of Songs is one of the Old Testament’s poetic books, and how the text ended up in the Bible is a mystery. The book is completely different from other texts of the Bible but fully fulfills the hallmarks of Persian erotic poetry in 900 BC. The book deals with the passionate relationship of a young couple, which gradually develops into marriage. Poems are lovers’ dialogue and praise for each other. The Song of Songs book is also called a book of wedding songs because the poems were read at weddings.

I found these beautiful texts 1.5 years ago when they made me happy in the middle of all the negative news and writing.

I have read the Laulujen Laulu book in Finnish, both in the old and new editions, and I have also read it in English and Swedish. In each version, the tone and thus the interpretation changes, which also affects the works. This can be seen in the names of the works, which vary in Finnish and English.

I treat the texts as an artist and layman, I do not belong to any religious or spiritual group.

The works represent painterly abstract art, which does not strive for similarity but to reduce reality. This style is particularly suitable for depicting abstract concepts such as love, passion, and holiness. The starting point is color first because I get a lot of inspiration from words or phrases that I start to see as colors. I mainly use acrylic colors on canvas, because the painting method is fast, open to techniques, and experimental.

I am Faint with Love is the third exhibition about the love and passion theme of the Song of Songs. I always find new things about it, and there will be more artworks on the same topic. My works have been very colorful before, but during the past winter, the colors of the paintings have become even brighter. I read poems in my study before painting and during painting – I think of something sacred as being present. While painting, I felt it necessary to write the names of the works on the work.

The texts take you along because of the beautiful language and how they touch and meet another person.

I currently live and work in Kankaanpää. I am a member of the Finnish Painters’ Union and belong to the Artist Register. My artworks are in the collections of the Pori Art Museum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Jorma Ollila.

Sari Moilala (b. 1965 Kuusamo)

SULA, öljy pellavalle, 120 x 120cm

kiila, ÖLJY PELLAVALLE, 120 X 90CM

Kyynel, ÖLJY PELLAVALLE, 120 X 120CM

SUUNTA,  ÖLJY PELLAVALLE, 120 X 90CM

EDGE

“The split-second I capture becomes hours, weeks, years in my studio. I paint for the joy of painting, dropping hues onto canvas until my puzzle is complete.

This exhibition began when a clear-cut appeared beside the cottage road. The cutting expanded the following year, and further expansion is anticipated. The forest turned into an inaccessible thicket, the blackened deadwood left-behind and jutting out like black sticks.The cottage road turned into a scorching, exposed, shadeless pathway there and back.

I captured the roadside, those plants that survived and those that were left as scraps by the chipper.

I sketched paintings first wildly, then subdued, and finally with precise enjoyment. I try to paint as beautifully as I can, but is the outcome beautiful or horrible?”

Kun kaikki kukat kuolivat / when all the flowerd died, 2024, poltettu ja maalattu puu, harjateräs

Forget me not, yksityiskohta

ÄIDIN JÄÄKUKAT, YKSITYISKOHTA

MUISTIKUVA KEVÄÄSTÄ / RECOLLECTION OF SPRING, 2024, MAALATTU PUU

”Nihkeän villalangan tuntu. Niin arkinen muisto, mutta joka sisältää koko elämän langan, syntymän ja kuoleman. Odotuksen molempiin. Jääkukat valkeassa kertakäyttökupissa ikkunalaudalla, salaa tuotuina. Äidin lempikukkia. Äiti olisi myös tykännyt vauvanpeiton tummansinisestä. Ja lanka. Villaa. Pitää lämpimänä. Alkuperäinen suunnitelma oli ottaa niskalenkki koko kuolemasta, mutta sepä näpäyttikin takaisin maailman pahuudella. Oli aika tässä välissä, kun mietin voinko veistää näitä teoksia.”

Reetta Gröhn-Soininen on merkittävä ja aktiivisesti toimiva suomalainen kuvanveistäjä. Puuveistäjänä hän kiinnittyy suomalaisen nykytaiteen jatkuvasti uudistuvaan kärkeen aidosti ja huumorintajuisesti, samalla ulottuen myös toisenlaisille tasoille sielujen siimeksiin. Hänen henkilökohtaisesta surutyöstä sai alkunsa Kuoleman puutarhurit- teokset, joita hän on toteuttanut muun muassa ympäristötaiteena eri puolelle Suomea. Näissä paikkasidonnaisissa töissä hän on halunnut kunnioittaa maamme eri kasvuympäristöjä ja valinnut teoksiinsa kunkin paikan maakuntakukkia. Pohjoisen Pellosta voi löytää kullerot, Sippolasta kurjenmiekat, Kaarinasta tammenterhot.

Värit ovat tulleet Reetta Gröhn- Soinisen veistoksissa yhä merkityksellisemmäksi hyvin fyysisenä elementtinä, joka on harkittua, mutta vapaata. Sen sattumanvarainen valuminen on tärkeää vastapainoa veistämisen kurinalaisuuteen. Nyt galleriassa nähtävät veistokset ovat jatkumoa puutarhureille. Henkilökohtainen surutyö on laajentunut globaaliseen suruun sodanaikaisessa maailmassamme. Gröhn-Soinisen kukat vievät meidät lempeästi tutkimaan tuntojamme myös omien kokemustemme kukkaniityille, sekä kuolleille, että parhaassa kukassaan oleville. Ja kaikelle siltä väliltä.

Satu Kalliokuusi
kuvataiteilija, kuraattori

WHEN ALL THE FLOWERS DIED

“The touch of soft wool yarn. Such a mundane memory, but one that contains the whole thread of life: birth and death. I’m waiting for both. Ice flowers in a white disposable cup on the windowsill, smuggled in. My mother’s favourite flowers. Mum would also have loved the dark blue of the baby blanket. And yarn. Wool. Keeps you warm. The original plan was to take a break from the whole death thing, but I was forced back by the evil of the world. There was a time in between when I wondered if I could carve these pieces.”

Reetta Gröhn-Soininen is a prominent and active Finnish sculptor. As a wood carver, she makes cutting-edge Finnish contemporary art in a genuine and humorous way, while also plumbing the depths of her soul. Working through her grief gave rise to the Gardeners of Death, which she has realised as works of environmental art in various parts of Finland. In these site-specific works, she has sought to honour the different habitats of our country and has chosen to use the regional flowers of each place. In Pello in the North, you can find the globe flower; in Sippola, the yellow flag; in Kaarina, the English oak.

Colour as a physical element has become an increasingly important part of Reetta Gröhn-Soininen’s sculptures, thought-out but free-form. Its irregular flow is a counterbalance to the discipline of the sculpture. The sculptures now on view in the gallery are a continuation of the Gardeners’ work. Personal grief has expanded to global grief in our war-torn world. Gröhn-Soininen’s flowers gently allow us to explore our feelings in the flower gardens of our own experience, both dead and in bloom. And everything in between.

Satu Kalliokuusi
visual artist, curator